Suzie Sees Sea Snakes Evolving by the Seashore
One day when her seashell sales booth was not seeing much activity, Suzie decided to do some diving at the Great Barrier Reef. She saw herself a passel of sea snakes, but she didn't pay them no nevermind because most are not aggressive, despite having some extremely powerful venom. Then she noticed the turtle-headed sea snake and alerted scientists.
It seems that a version of the contrived non-science of "melanism" is being brought back into the evolutionary icon corral after being discredited in the peppered moths fiasco. Now it's a sea snake that changes color, which is being touted as evolution in action. Katie, wake the neighbors! We got us some bona fide evolution happening! No, not really.
Without serious study, teleological declarations were made that the snakes changed their color to deal with pollution. I reckon that once again, if an evolutionist asserts something, it's settled science. However, there are other questions that may have some bearing on the situation that should be dealt with by these Evo Sith. Emydocephalus annulatus (the critter under discussion) was already known to have a variety of colors. It is an egg eater, and does not have venom like its comrades. There are three species of E. annulatus, all lacking venom, any research on them? (That'll be the day! No actual research was done on this one.) Maybe some studies on the sixty-some other species of sea snake?
When it comes to promoting evolutionism, real science doesn't seem to matter much. I wonder how Suzie would do as a researcher. I bet she has sense enough to know that sea snakes have genetic abilities given to them by the Master Engineer to help them adapt.
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| You can't see the turtle-headed sea snake because it's hiding. Actually, I couldn't find a usable image, so here's one of its habitats, the Great Barrier Reef. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/BIOS (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents). |
Without serious study, teleological declarations were made that the snakes changed their color to deal with pollution. I reckon that once again, if an evolutionist asserts something, it's settled science. However, there are other questions that may have some bearing on the situation that should be dealt with by these Evo Sith. Emydocephalus annulatus (the critter under discussion) was already known to have a variety of colors. It is an egg eater, and does not have venom like its comrades. There are three species of E. annulatus, all lacking venom, any research on them? (That'll be the day! No actual research was done on this one.) Maybe some studies on the sixty-some other species of sea snake?
When it comes to promoting evolutionism, real science doesn't seem to matter much. I wonder how Suzie would do as a researcher. I bet she has sense enough to know that sea snakes have genetic abilities given to them by the Master Engineer to help them adapt.
Sea snakes said to turn black due to ‘industrial melanism’—a term from the old peppered moth story. Media go wild.To read the rest of this article on some all-wet science, click on "Next Evolutionary Icon: Peppered Snakes?"
The phrase ‘Industrial melanism’ is like ringing Pavlov’s bell to reporters, who salivate at the expectation of peppered-moth candy. When Current Biology used the term in a study of sea snakes that underwent a color change off the coasts of industrial areas, reporters drooled at the thought of delicious sea-snake hot dogs in Darwin buns. Out came the Kipling-style Just-So Story headlines: